>> Come What Maye

How time flies. We are into our 3rd month already! I’m sorry, for not being able to be with you on this occasion.  Though we are world apart and there’s an ocean between us, but our hearts are just a beat away from each other’s. For I know, each day passes, means that we are one day closer to each other’s arms again.

Thank you, honey. What more can I say to you, who opened your heart to me, allowing me to feel the warmth of your love across the great distance that separates us? Our strong belief, persistence in making this work will definitely pay off. This is the promise I give to you. 

During these times, we have our fair share of emotions. Don’t you think it’s simply awesome? Especially when somebody really dear to you can let you experience different dimensions, types, degrees of emotions? be it happy, joyous, touching, sad and angry moments? But no matter what happens, there is this deep down belief in our hearts that tell us everything is going to be fine. 

Thank you, honey, for all the sacrifices that you have made, for having to bear my bad habits and over-reaction at times. I love you.

I look forward to our future. The future that we build up together, through laughter and tears. I know that no matter what we may face in future, we know that we will never doubt our love. Our love will definitely carry us through.   

You know something?

I always think that we are the unbeatables. Because we know that we are staying strong together in any circumstance and be each other’s rock. You are my lover, you are my best friend and you are the one whom I confide with. I will be loyal to you and protect you from any harm, I will not let anyone say things that is bad about you. Never.

Wait for me, honey.  Wait for me to come back with good grades and get into honours. And then we will embark a new chapter of our love journey.

I love you so much.

Your always.

P.S. I really look forward to your trip to Perth come this friday, which is tomorrow! I cant wait to have you here, seriously. =)

>> Love Life

“If I fail, I try again, and again, and again…’

Nick Vujicic

I bumped onto Michael after my 318 lecture and we did some catching up while we were on our way home.  We were talking about some random stuffs about Singapore (he is a local and he longs to go to Singapore!), and after that ended, he then told me about this man, Nick Vujicic and shared how he was so inspired by him.

And after watching his videos on youtube a moment ago, I must really say that I’m really really inspired by him. I felt challenged, challenged to live life even better, to treasure my loved ones around me even more. I mean…. not that I am negative in life, but you know, sometimes in life, we can be unhappy, whining about the smallest stuffs, grumpling about the slightest negativities that we experienced.  Everytime, we can always say life still goes on, life still goes on. But think carefully, are we saying that sentence with positivity when we try to forget our unhappiness and move on? Or are saying that in a negative way, accepting our circumstances and carry on with life with the i-cant-do-anything-about-it attitude and be bitter?

Alright, enough said. Let’s watch the video….

Roll on… (finish the video, it wont disappoint)

Nick, you are truly amazing.

So how was that? Did that touched your heart. For me, it certainly did. Sometimes I feel, harsh circumstances are always in our way to build our character, not to destroy us.

Well, life is simple. It only requires you to make two simple choices.

Bitter or better ?

Come on, get back up!

++

>> Love yourself

“Love yourself first and everything falls into line.”

Lucille Ball quotes (American radio and motion-picture actress and comedy star, 1911-1989)

I believe that many of you would agree with me that the greatest love of all is to love yourself. Loving yourself, I reckon, is the most important thing that you ever experience in your lifetime. However, things are easier said than done. I mean, you self-sabotage youself big time, you screw yourself up. With that, you may be thinking right now, this is so hard to achieve! And I’m quite sure at certain point of time, we don’t even know how to start!

Peeps, what you have to do is simple. Make a conscious decision about loving yourself and act on it. Haha, acting on it, it’s not easy. Are you ready for it?

Well, we are unique. We are different (just like we all have unique thumbprints). Different people have different approaches to love themselves.  But…. what remains the same is the intention and outcome that we want to achieve eventually. That is, to lead a happy and fulfilled life.

With that same intent and outcome, the principles of achieving that will be the same as well! Of course, as mentioned earlier, the way of doing it is different due to individual differences.

First, you need to love youself by eliminating all the self-criticism. Come on, don’t keep saying that you can’t make it, you are stupid and you won’t be able to do it. Have a little faith in yourself.

Secondly, love yourself by building your self-esteem. Make postive affirmations. You have to trust yourself by having confidence in the things that you do. Know what you are good at.

Thirdly, I believe we need to be truthful to ourselves.  When we are happy, acknowledge the joy. If we are not, just say we are not. There is no need to lie to attempt to hide our negative emotions.

Lastly, be contented. Give thanks, express gratitudes. Appreciate.

Well, these are little thoughts from me. Hope it helps

To end this off, let me just share with you a song that motivated me to write this entry. From one of my favourite singer, Whitney Houston.

Presenting The Greatest Love Of All….

I believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

Chorus:
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone’s shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be

Chorus

And if by chance, that special place
That you’ve been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

Remember, love yourself before you can love others.

Do not hurt yourself, do not hurt others.

+++

>>For Auld Lang Syne, My Dear 2008

Should auld acquaintances be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintances be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

For Auld Lang Syne, my Dear

For Auld Lang Syne

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet

For Auld Lang Syne……

*********

For some, it is a celebration of the achievements for the past year

and an expection of continued success in the New Year.

For some, this year might be an awful year with an optismistic hope for a better year ahead.

No matter what, let’s kick ass and forget our old conflicts with the people around us, our old defeats that shattered our confidence and our old victories that we could only look back on. Bid farewell to 2008, welcome 2009 with open arms as we renew our relationships with our friends and family, pick ourselves up from the defeats that we had encountered, and hit new heights! Certainly, 2009 would be our best year yet!

To my family and friends, a Happy New Year for Auld Lang Syne.

>>Attitude determines altitude

Do you always have that ‘whatever/so what’ and ‘who cares/I don’t give a damn’ attitude? Are you the half-empty kind of person rather than the half-full person?

STOP THAT THINKING. IT WILL GET YOU NOWHERE!

I mean yes.. I do agree that sometimes in life, we do encounter low points in life. It is painful. And when we are in that circumstances, we tend to give up and we blame everything in the world. We decide to adopt that ‘who cares’ and ‘what’s the point, it’s not going to work’ kind of attitude to approach our problems.

But my friends, come on, things will only get worse when we use the ‘what’s the point attitude’ to approach circumstances, this negative attitude will always rob the discipline and the determination that we require to change things and to improve our conditions.

Only when we take full responsibility in our lives, and be grateful in everything, then we can turn things around. By taking full responsibility, it means that giving up on all our excuses, all our victim stories and blaming of external factors that screwed up of what we want to achieve. We have to take up the position, the position that has the power to make things different. Right now, your attitude is a matter of choice -  the choice being 100% responsible for everything that happen to you. You take 100% responsibility of your own life. There is no room for excuses, no room for ‘I am a victim too’ stories and no room for external factors.

Being grateful in everything we do also mean that we are not taking things for granted. We have to cherish everything that is around us. Always be thankful of what you have got, and not grumble about what you do not have. Count your blessings.

There is this saying: ‘Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude!’ Your attitude affects everything in your life. It affects how you think, how you act, how you handle situations and of course, how you approach life. I truly believe that by developing a positive attitude towards life, we would definitely be happier and of course, the ability to handle circumstances more positively. Naturally, things will turn out fine!

My friends, the past is the past. It doesn’t matter! Stop brooding about the past, learn from mistakes AND MOVE ON! What’s more important is the choice you make, the attitude that you want to adopt to face the future.

Come on, let’s get going!

>>Simple is not easy

In life, you have visions and you set goals. With that, they are accompanied with principles that will take charge of your thoughts and actions, that guides your feelings. These principles are simple, but they may not be easy to implement.  More often than not, they require dedicated discipline, the willingness to change, the courage to get out of your comfort zone and also your undivided situation awareness. Sometimes, you have to seek opinions and feedback from others, which I found it hard as some are hard to take because they are quite critical.  However, feedback and opinions from your family, your colleagues, your friends, your boss are really valuable to your goal attaining process. You can ask them questions like ‘Am I doing the right thing? How can I do to improve my current approach? Is there anything that I should stop doing it? In what way have I done to limit myself from what I am going to achieve?’ I came to realise that there is nothing to be afraid of when you ask. Most people, including me, are afraid to ask for feedback of how we are doing because we are afraid of negative and critical feedbacks that may hit us quite a bit.  Well, there is nothing to be afraid of, my friends. The truth is the truth and you cannot improve your life, you relationships or your performance without feedback! You will never improve and learn from mistakes!

So take some time, sit down and pay attention. Ask.

I have started to ask, prepared myself for negative and critical feedback. How about you?

Remember, the formula to success and greatness in life is simple, but it is always the working and the steps involved that require a lot of hard work and mental preparation.

Nobody is able to help you to achieve what you want to achieve. Only you can do it.

>>Protect your dreams

Let’s not talk about exams! Just wanna take some time off my exams to do other things and I chose blogging

Right, I was just browsing through my movies folder and I came across this film named “The Pursuit  of Happ’Y'ness”. I have to say this movie is one of my favourites because it’s written based on a true story… Yes! and I love biographies! I’m like so drawn to these stories not only because they are inspirational, but also the process of how they have managed to overcome adversities, poverty, disabilities, difficult childhoods to become really successful individuals.

Right… I am digressing away…. Come back come back!!

Okie… In the movie, I came across this sentence spoken by Will Smith in one of the scenes that’s really inspiring and it strikes me quite a bit.  Here it goes…

“You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. You want something? Go get it. Period.”

Woah… seriously, this quote, to me, is really powerful.  I managed to find this scene on youtube! Watch it!

Well, basically, that’s it! Just wanna dedicate this to all my family members and friends, any person who happens to read this blog entry.

To my psyc peeps, get through the exams, do well, be motivated with this quote, get into honours!

Right, it’s dinner time and a time of real hard mugging!

>>Ultimate measure of a man

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and conveniene but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”

Martin Luther King, JR

I was just finding post-it for my exam preparation and I came across this handwritten quote by me in one of the post-it slips.  Don’t ask me how it got there, perhaps at that point of time, I was just randomly finding some paper to pen this awesome quote down.

Great people with great visions.

>>Begin with the end in mind

Just a little update after MIA-ing for the past week. Right, I was busy crossing hurdles and today, I just had my last seminar class for the semester and I did a presentation on Sports Performance Anxiety (which is my last assignment for the semester).  Brought in the case study of Liu Xiang and used that as a lead-in for my presentation.  Seriously, I was a little nervous prior to presentation because my seminar lecturer is a sports psychologist for the australian men’s hockey team, so I had to be clear and know what I was presenting. Well, all is good! phew…

I came back home for lunch and I thought it would be great idea to catch up with my reading (haha, definitely not textbooks and academic journal articles!).  Anyone can make a smart guess the book I read just now, with the title of this entry provided?

BINGO!!

Yep, it’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Actually, this is my second time reading that book but I really like this book because it highlights the principles that one’s must possess as HABITS in order to achieve true interdependent effectiveness; meaning aligning one’s needs and desires with those of other people and create effective relationships.

But today, I’m just going to talk about what I feel, personally, a principle that strikes me a great deal and that’s Habit 2: BEGIN WITH THE END STATE IN MIND.

In his book, Stephen R. Covey captures the essence of strategic thinking and with that, it all boils down to being absolutely clear minded of what you really want in life.  He illustrated this concept with a visualisation exercise…. (Touchwood, it’s just a visualisation exercise) Imagine that at the end of your life, you were able to listen what was being said during your funeral, what would you like people to say about you, as a father, as a life partner, or as a colleague? And in this principle, whatever it is that you would like to hear, you are now in the position to start living the life and establishing the relationships that you want to make it happen.

Personally, I think that is a really power and good personal development advice. By being clear of what you want in life, you increase the chances of achieving it.

So now, how do you actually achieve it?

Covey recommends formulating a personal vision statement to document one’s perception of one’s own vision in life. In the process of developing your personal vision statement, you can use your creative imagination to visualise milstones of your career, your family, or your accomplishments. Visualise what you are going to achieve in great detail.

That’s powerful, eh? so what are you waiting for? Start writing a vision statement work towards it!

Have a great week ahead! =)

>>Life is simple

Sometimes life is so simple that a small lollipop can make your day.

Have a great weekend!

Ta!

>>What truly are our priorities in life?

To me, I believe this is, without a doubt, one of the most important questions that we have to ask as we go through our life. Personally, I feel that it is critical for each of us to clarify about our own priorities, because I believe the once we are clear about our priorities, it can help us to make better decisions and more importantly, more conscious about ourselves and our loved ones.

Well, I came out with this question when I just signed on as SAF Officer Army Regular. At that point of time, I knew that this is my career and it’s going to be a new priority in my life.

With that, it intiated a change in my priorities for my life.

Since then, my priorities have not changed a bit.  So what is your order of priorities?

The priorities for my life are the following:

- Self

- Family

- Work (Career + Studies)

- Relationship (Partner)

I put myself first simply because I cannot truly love my family, excel in my career and studies and love my partner or any other thing unless I love and give to myself first. Family comes before Work simply because my love for them are far more important than work and any amount of material reward. Work comes before Relationship simply because at this point of time, I just want to concentrate in getting good grades in my studies and establishing myself in my career.  I feel that this is not the time to get into relationships.

Well, this order of priorities will stay maybe for the next 3-5 years? Hahaha, definitely, I will change them in future. If not, my parents will kill me.

Agree, that along the way, there would be a lot of ‘What if?’ questions that would pop up daily in our lives, but what I truly believe is that, we need to give serious considerations to the order of our priorities.  The order of our priorities is what our makes the difference between struggling in life and loving life.

Let me round this up with thought of the day….

>> The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. (Stephen R. Covey)

>>Thoughts about 稻香。。。latest song by Jay!

I was just you-tubing as usual after a ‘tedious’ session of mugging and came across the MTV of [稻香] in Jay Chou’s latest album [魔杰座]. MTV as follows… Composed by him… Folk song style… I like! Enjoy…

I find the lyrics quite meaningful and shall attempt to interpret! Nevertheless, I will also add in my own thoughts about it too!

Sit back and let this piece of music bring us back to the beginning…back to our childhood that’s free from troubles, free from worry… (Remember to keep scrolling)

It talks about how people in the modern society, pressurized by the everyday stress in life, begin to yearn for the simple countryside life. Right in the first two line,

[对这个世界如果你有太多的抱怨 , 跌倒了就不敢继续往前走, 为什么人要这么的脆弱 堕落请你打开电视看看 , 多少人为生命在努力勇敢的走下去, 我们是不是该知足, 珍惜一切 就算没有拥有]

We have so many complaints towards everything. We do not have the courage to continue when we fail. Why are we so weak and why have we got to degrade ourselves? Turn on the TV and see how many people are courageously living on, even when the environment seems harsh to them? Is it time that we start to be appreciative and treasure what we have? Whenever I see those people who are living through poverty, who are fighting for their lives in natural disasters, I see their will to live, to survive… I think that Jay has articulated the idea of being contented (知足) well in this song and more often than not, we always neglect this idea.

In the second and the fourth part of the song, Jay brings us to the countryside, a place that is free from worry and troubles; running in the wheat field, stealing the fruits, the fun & laughter and the carefree childhood. Well, the world of adulthood is overwhelmed with grievances, misery and makes us forget about the happiness during our childhood. So let’s go back, go back to our childhood

[还记得你说家是唯一的城堡 , 随著稻香河流继续奔跑 , 微微笑 小时候的梦我知道 , 不要哭让萤火虫带著你逃跑 , 乡间的歌谣永远的依靠 , 回家吧 回到最初的美好]

[童年的纸飞机 , 现在终於飞回我手里, 所谓的那快乐, 赤脚在田里追蜻蜓追到累了, 偷摘水果被蜜蜂给叮到怕了 , 谁在偷笑呢 , 我靠著稻草人吹著风唱著歌睡著了]

This third verse tells us not to give up so easily and like what I have said, don’t be too hard up on things. Smile! Be happy always and this is the true meaning of life.

[不要这麼容易就想放弃 , 就像我说的, 追不到的梦想 换个梦不就得了,
为自己的人生鲜艳上色 , 先把爱涂上喜欢的颜色 , 笑一个吧 功成名就不是目的 , 让自己快乐快乐这才叫做意义]

The last part of the song tells us to treasure everything that we have and be contented! =)

[珍惜一切 就算没有拥有 ， 还记得你说家是唯一的城堡 ， 随著稻香河流继续奔跑 ， 微微笑 小时候的梦我知道]

Finally, I’m done! Seriously, the feelings and messages behind this song really inspired and touched me. Two thumbs up for the song! Let me round this up with the thought of the day….

>>>>> 每个人都应该听听心里的声音，努力过生活， 知足珍惜眼前的一切！

Alright, its 4am already. Gotta hit the sack… *yawns* zzzzzzz

>>想家。。。I miss home

家是我最温暖的地方。。。

离开家

离开爸妈

到澳洲这里读书

才发现我是会想家的

才突然觉得爸妈好疼我喔

我要让爸爸妈妈觉得有我这个孩子很骄傲

一定要坚持, 读好书，考取Honours, 然后回家

我好想家。。